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Starting with Mortal Kombat 3, the MK series has been lacking in innovation, design, and overall gameplay. Midway has made it a habit to try and breathe life into its long-time titles as long as possible. What Midway needs to realize is that newer, better fighters have made Mortal Kombat somewhat irrelevant, except as a game that folks may occasionally play for nostalgic reasons. Mortal Kombat Gold is not a significant upgrade from MK 4, but is a pretty good conversion of the coin-op version.

The gameplay of Mortal Kombat Gold has not changed much from previous versions of MK. A few modes that have been added are two-on-two, endurance, and tournament team. If you have not yet played these modes, you are not missing much. They are poorly designed and not very much fun. Weapons can now be used, but they are lame and do not add much to the gameplay. A curious decision is the addition of several older characters to Mortal Kombat Gold. I guess Midway decided to say, “Screw the storyline, let’s throw in a few characters to help sell the game.” The characters are: Sektor, Goro, Baraka, Mileena, Kung Lao, Kitana, and Cyrax. Mortal Kombat Gold has the usual array of gameplay options. There are six difficulty levels, and the user can adjust number of rounds, enter “kodes,” use vibration, and adjust the sound.

The characters in Mortal Kombat Gold definitely do not possess equal abilities. This imbalance can be somewhat frustrating when playing against a human opponent. The imbalance is not that big of a deal against the CPU since cheap moves can compensate for any imbalance. The main problem I have with the combat system is its simplicity. While this simplistic approach makes the game easy to play for a newbie, it does not offer the desired depth that is needed to hold the attention of advanced gamers. Simplicity is not the only problem. Use of the weapons is poorly implemented. It takes too long to use the various weapons. Skilled opponents will clean up on your combatant while you are trying to use a weapon as a result of the length of time required to use the weapon.

Overall, the gameplay of Mortal Kombat Gold fails to impress. Strategy is not as much of an issue as would be desired. The characters do not possess enough unique moves to add depth to the gameplay. Also, the so-called extras in the game such as the additional characters, weapons, and modes of play are not designed well.

The new modes of gameplay, additional weapons, and new characters are not enough to boost up the scores in the longevity department. Since the gameplay is virtually the same as previous MK titles, fans of the series will not be presented with much challenge or depth. If you have never played a MK title, then there might be some replay value in trying to defeat the game. However, trust me, you will get much more mileage by playing the likes of Soul Calibur or Virtua Fighter 3tb.

Mortal Kombat Gold is not a game that works well with the standard Dreamcast controller. I did not try the game with the arcade stick, but I can imagine it works much better with MKG. The controls are easy to learn, but implementing them with all the buttons of the standard controller is too much like a game of finger Twister. For those unfamiliar with the moves of Mortal Kombat games, here is a breakdown of the moves. There are basic moves (kicks, punches, blocks, etc…), close quarters moves (elbow, knee, throw), crouching moves (groin jab, crouch kick, and uppercut), spin moves, and aerial moves. Each character has a unique list of moves and fatality maneuvers.

For a Dreamcast game, Mortal Kombat Gold has truly disappointing graphics. The characters do not animate well and are not as detailed as they could be. Everything from the endings to the blood looks below average. In fact, the plentiful amounts of blood look absolutely horrible. The blood looks like it is on a totally separate plane. Mortal Kombat still has not made a successful transition to a 3D environment. While technically it has 3D graphics, it still feels like the gamer is playing a 2D game. The camera work in MKG is less than stellar. The camera does not effectively zoom out on occasion, thereby only allowing one fighter to be displayed for a brief moment. This type of occurrence is inexcusable. The only aspect of graphics that looks above average is the arena graphics. In fact, four arenas not found in the arcade version are included in Mortal Kombat Gold. The arenas, combined with the music make for a nice dark atmosphere. Overall, though, Mortal Kombat Gold gets a less-than-stellar score in the area of graphics.

The sound in Mortal Kombat Gold is average. There is not a lot of voice in the game, but what does exist sounds nice. Either you love the cheesy voicing in MK or you do not. The music is appropriate, but the various tracks sound very similar. The music creates a good ambience. An aspect of sound that is implemented well is the fighting effects. The sound effects of punches, kicks, and the like sound painful and are loud.

The only reason to buy Mortal Kombat Gold is if you do not have the previous versions of this game and are just dying to play a Mortal Kombat game. MKG is a solid conversion from the coin-op version. Mortal Kombat Gold is the best-looking MK game due to the capability of the DC, but it offers very little in terms of innovation. The Dreamcast is a system with fighters such as Virtua Fighter 3tb and Soul Calibur—both great games. Midway would be doing itself a favor to put the MK series to rest. Every time I played MK Gold I got the feeling of, “Been there, done that.” For this reason, Mortal Kombat Gold will tinker with coaster status in my house. However, Mortal Kombat fanatics might want to give it a look, albeit a brief one.